Supermax Corporation Berhad has called on its former migrant workers to apply for reimbursement of any fees paid to obtain employment at the company, to complete the transformation of its labour policies, it said in a notice sent to the media.
The rubber glove maker said it is continuing to conduct an outreach campaign in its effort to follow up on earlier efforts implemented in Nepal and Bangladesh, asking that former workers who paid recruitment fees to obtain employment be reimbursed.
“Finding every last worker who paid a recruitment fee is our goal as we complete a total transformation of our labour policies,” according to Founder and Executive Chairman of Supermax, Dato’ Seri Stanley Thai.
The group established a sinking fund back in March 2022 to repay recruitment fees of former workers who have returned to their native countries. The fund is managed by an Advisory and Governance Committee headed by Elevate, a globally renowned Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), sustainability and supply chain services provider. In addition, the committee is also guided by independent migrant workers’ rights specialists such as Adrian Pereira, Executive Director of the North-South Initiative, a Malaysian-based NGO that advocates migrant rights.
Since October 2021, Supermax has been subject to a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Withhold Release Order (WRO) that prevents the import of its medical glove products into the US.
In addition to its pivot on domestic labour matters in Malaysia, Supermax US is currently engaged in a US$550 million investment on a new US manufacturing plant campus under construction in Texas. When fully completed the project will create up to 1,200 high-paying jobs and be a showcase for advanced medical glove manufacturing technologies. The first phase of the new plant will begin producing medical nitrile gloves in Q4 of 2023, providing US customers with access to high quality reasonably priced domestically produced medical glove products.
“Our Texas investment of US$550 million demonstrates our confidence that by combining our extensive experience as well as advanced manufacturing, AI, and a highly automated production system, we can successfully compete based in the US,” Thai asserted in his public statement.
